Thursday, March 12, 2009

It’s been a week of just-getting-by here at A Chronic Dose, but there’s much to report from different corners of the Internet.

My colleague and diabetes blogger extraordinaire Amy Tenderich of DiabetesMine recently announced a contest that proves yet again why her site is one of the most respected and influential around:

The 2009 DiabetesMine™ Design Challenge, an online competition to encourage creative new tools for improving life with diabetes.

It’s pretty simple—if you have a great idea for a new web application or innovative new medical device to help manage diabetes, you could win a grand prize of $10,000 to help make your project a reality.

According to Amy’s site, “The contest is open for submissions from March 2, 2009, to May 1st, 2009, at 11:59 pm Pacific time. Winners will be announced on Monday, May 18th, 2009.Submissions are accepted in the form of a 2-minute video to be uploaded to the DiabetesMine YouTube channel, or a 2-3 page written “elevator pitch” plus supporting graphics, also to be uploaded online.”

For more information on rules, other prizes, and judging criteria, be sure to check out the design contect page at DiabetesMine.

As Amy says, let the innovation begin!

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Speaking of innovation, Alexandra Carmichael of Cure Together just announced the release of the first crowdsourced book on endometriosis. Endometriosis Heroes: 137 Women Share Their Experiences and Treatments is available here.

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, and sites like Cure Together and Jeanne’s Endo Blog (and many others) are working tirelessly to promote understanding and awareness.

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And lastly, innovation of another kind—an unusual perspective in today’s climate of economic woes, layoffs, and general anxiety. One of my all-time favorite voices and people in the medical community is Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center here in Boston and blogger at Running a Hospital. Check out this Boston Globe column about the way Levy has approached potential layoffs at the hospital, and the amazing response from his BIDMC community. Empathy and sacrifice have replaced self-preservation at the other people’s expense, and it’s something we can all learn from, especially these days.